Motor Teardown II a success, except for 1 small detail

So Alex and I tore down my motor yesterday (Sunday). For those of you who missed my last post, we opened my radiator cap to discover oil and coolant mixed and it looked like someone poured a melted chocolate shake in there. Sign of a BADLY blown headgasket. 11 months ago we changed the HG, timing belt, water pump, pretty much did a whole top-end maintenence job. So of course we are baffled as to why this would happen again so soon since we followed everything to a tee.

Because of the severity of the crap in the coolant, we flushed the cooling system before tearing anything down. Basically we drained it and removed the lower radiator hose so that we could just let the water flush run out. When my motorswap was done a few years ago, whoever put the lower rad. hose on had put the clamp on to that you had to get under the car to pull the hose. Alex couldn't get enough leverage in his position to slide the clamp down so I took a screwdriver and moved the clamp when he told me too. Unfortunately I slipped and punched a nice hole into my radiator :rolleyes: So in addition to some costs already involved we now have to add a radiator to the list. :GO ME:

Fortunately it's not horribly expensive but still more than I planned on spending for the project. Our friend who does his port n polish business took my head and this week it will be machined/milled, cleaned up and he is also going to clean the valves and replace the valve stem seals...so my head should be good as new when I get it back. He also took my intake manifold and is going to clean it up a bit as well....it was pretty gross.

So now poor Marvin sits upon jackstands...once again...waiting silently to be returned to life. On the bright side, my stepdad let me borrow his 200sx again and he knows it may be awhile before he gets it back but he is cool with it :D

So how was everyone else's weekend?

:( Kat, I can't help but feel Marvin is a bit of a lemon. Why not just cut your losses gorgeous? Heaps more reliable cars out there with a lot going for them.

My weekend was great. I don't think I've ever pulled 5 chicks in 5 days before and I went indoor rock climbing for 3 hours last night (for free!).

:) :cheers:
Best of luck with Marvy!
Ozzie

Kat,

I hope that you are also checking the head for cracks. Even the smallest hairline crack could cause that problem in your motor. I have seen similar problems in some older Escorts.

Weekend was better than yours by the sounds of it Kat. :(

I hope Marvin's back to life again soon. :)

Unfortunately we cant really afford a new car, or a decently newer used car.....and I am also afraid of getting rid of this car and ending up with an even more sour lemon :lol2: As for the head, my friend who has it knows Neon motors more than anyone I have come across. He will make sure it's 100% before we put it back on. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the block isn't damaged, and he will help us check that as well. On the bright side, at least we know this car well and how to fix things. We hope to be in a positon for a better car in the next 2-3 years. And fortunately I don't drive for my job anymore so that helps A LOT! I just feel like such a dolt for busting the radiator....however Alex said the crap in there was so bad when he flushed it that he thinks we might be better off with a new one anyway.

eek! poor marvin. hope u can get him up and running again soon!

and yeah, it seems like an engine weekend. the pulsation damper on the rx7 broke, so i had to take the manifold off and replace that... which was a major bummer, all that work to replace one tiny sonenoid thing! but, this took time out of the mr2 project... over break we got the engine in and wiring finished!!! now all that's left is building the exhaust and putting the IC in. :D


hey... u have the 200sx... there's a solo2 practice day out at AMP on the 17th. are u and alex allowed to go out and play with the car?

Gee, none of my "lemons" have given me such trouble (o.k. so the 360 blew a head gasket, but it takes less than five minutes to replace) My newest lemon has been stalling at every other stoplight so I'm going to run the next tank through with some fuel system cleaner and hope that helps.

hey... u have the 200sx... there's a solo2 practice day out at AMP on the 17th. are u and alex allowed to go out and play with the car?

Well....I wasn't told NOT to play with it :devil: :lol2:

It was an engine weekend.
One of my vehicles developed a piston slap about 2500 miles after I paid a good engine shop to rebuild it. I was so disgusted, (the builder refused to fix it under warranty) I parked the vehicle for about a year. (I have others more fun to drive) This weekend I pulled the pan and one head, found a piston (overheated and seized due to bad wrist pin installation and seized/collapsed piston skirt)
Everything else in the engine is like new. However, do you know how tough it is to find one 1.5mm overbore piston? A set is easy, but the large over size makes finding one tough.

Well....I wasn't told NOT to play with it :devil: :lol2:

Didn't your parents ever tell you not to play with it?

:nono: :thefinger

curse those lemons. *hates the lemon*

*Shoots the lemon in the face*

*Burns down the lemons house*

I have lemon issues :mad:

curse those lemons. *hates the lemon*

*Shoots the lemon in the face*

*Burns down the lemons house*

I have lemon issues :mad:

Judging by the above post...lemons arent your only issues :uhoh:

you're right. posers, stupid people, disrespectful subordinates, SUVs, and helium balloons round out my list of "stuff i have issues with"